A.S.P.E.N.'s Clinical Nutrition Week 2011, Vancouver, Canada

(I'm attending this conference in my home city but it's in a part of downtown I rarely visit so I feel -- and am behaving -- a bit like a tourist.)

I'm happily immersed in the information & setting. Both have been incredibly inspiring. I'll share highlights from the talks as soon as I process my notes. But for now, here's what I look at between the sessions:

Canada Place

Vancouver Convention Centre & view of Coal Harbour

Stanley Park

Digital Orca at the Convention Centre (Artist: Douglas Coupland)

Dietetic Preceptorship

Hello, just a quick message to let you know despite appearances The Dietitian's Journal is not on hiatus nor am I on a vacation (except for a couple of brief visits to Queen Elizabeth Park).

I've been involved in an intensive and rewarding mutual learning experience with a dietetic intern.  I'm trying to begin 2011 with focus rather than multi-tasking so during the intern's time with me, I've set aside reading and writing for this blog.

Yesterday I discovered a free continuing education course on Dietetic Preceptorship that I'd like to share with you.

Dietetics Preceptor Training Program (scroll down the page to view the course description; to view the content in detail, you will need to register)

The course looks relevant and well-structured so I'm looking forward to working through all the modules, especially the section on critical thinking.

Happy, Healthy New Year

Winter coleslaw: this recipe includes cabbage, carrots, sweet bell peppers, celery & white turnip. This small bowl contains about one-and-half servings toward the "at least 5 a day" of fruits & vegetables.

Happy New Year, everyone.

I hadn't prepared a New Year's Day post, and a good thing, too, because I could never do better than Sophie's latest,

How to make healthy eating incredibly simple this year

So set aside any long or complicated list of resolutions you've made and go read it now. The principle Sophie describes is simple, powerful and 'makes the most difference.'

Snow Food

It's snowing.

I've just come in from the early morning Westie walk, my feet are still cold, and to warm myself up I'm dreaming of Sophie's breakfast quinoa, Vincci's risotto, Kathryn's spiced salad (& a picnic next spring), Kelly's latest recipe (Moroccan Spinach and Chickpeas), and Lucy's...well any of Lucy's recipes or photos will nourish me.

 What are your favourite cold weather foods?

Roasted eggplant & tomato sauce

This post has been sitting in draft form for over a month. I'm publishing it today, although in my part of the world we're past the season when we harvest eggplants and tomatoes from our home gardens or buy them at farmers markets. But I do want to share this recipe now (if it appeals to you, mark it to try later) because it's simple, tasty, nourishing, and very much in the spirit of An Honest Kitchen, which has been inspiring my new way of cooking.

A variation of Culinate's recipe for Eggplant and Ricotta Sauce, Sicilian-Style.

My modifications; I used:

1) More eggplant, fewer tomatoes
2) Heirloom tomatoes (Black Prince, Amish Gold) instead of Italian Plum
3) Martha Rose Shulman's method to roast the eggplant
4) Lots of golden oregano, fresh from the balcony, during cooking
5) No cheese

Addendum, November 8th: After I let this post sit in my drafts folder for over a month, I then rushed to edit and publish it -- and forgot to tell you how and with what I ate this sauce. You may be able to tell from the half-filled bowl in the middle photo I sampled quite a bit.  And rather than cook pasta, I simply warmed some pita breads cut in half, spread them with hummus and then generously filled them with the thick sauce. A very tasty and simple lunch, rounded off with a serving a yogurt and piece of fresh fruit.